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English ‘non-name’ address forms in the non-native sociolinguistic context: The case study of the Akan of Ghana

Issue: Vol 13 No. 2-4 (2019) Special Issue: African anthroponyms: Sociolinguistic currents and anthropological reflections

Journal: Sociolinguistic Studies

Subject Areas: Gender Studies Linguistics

DOI: 10.1558/sols.37831

Abstract:

In this paper, the focus is on non-name address forms, or rather, non-proper name address forms, and they are seen as English loan words, which are originally used in the native English culture not as address terms or names. With their use in the Akan culture, these expressions have not only been loaned, but they have also been referentially transformed. The paper looks at the use of such address forms of English origin as kinship terms, common formal titles, status-description names, names denoting age and physical characteristics and occupational names in the Akan culture. It discusses the meaning and use of these names vis-à-vis their usage in Standard English. The paper also discusses the processes of indigenisation as the terms are adopted into the Akan sociolinguistic culture.

Author: Yaw Sekyi-Baidoo

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